Pickleball Grows As A Community-Building Sport
BY ISAIAH FRIZZELL
Doug Niedrich is a Blaine County pickleball hero. Not only did the sport save his life but it keeps him going as he patents and manufactures paddles and protective clothing for the massively popular, community-centric sport.
Do you ball?
Pickleball began in 1965 when three fathers went to entertain their kids with badminton in Bainbridge Island, Washington. As the story goes, the parents didn’t have badminton gear on hand and so improvised with a Wiffle ball and some plywood paddles. Necessity being the mother of invention, a beloved new game grew from this composite and has since blasted onto the scene to become one of the fastest growing sports in the world. Highly standardized, at the upper levels, the USA Pickleball Association (USAPA) and the International Federation of Pickleball (IFP) have sprung up to publish rules, update developments and promote tournaments.
The ascension of pickleball did not come without its share of controversy. Perhaps that it was originally designed for children, the humorous name or with the relatively low barrier to entry at blame, pickleball was, and still is, occasionally, scoffed at by some — maybe most aggressively by a few tennis diehards. But it’s tough to ignore a sport with championship tournaments held across the world with sponsors like American Sports Builders Association and Association of Chief Executives of Sport. Although similar in many aspects of play, tennis is not exactly the big brother to pickleball. From modest beginnings to gear now designed specifically for the sport, pickleball owns its own niche in social recreation.
Pickleball is played on a doubles badminton court, smaller than a tennis court, with textured paddles and a molded plastic ball possessing strong bounce and some degree of hardness, similar to the original Wiffle ball. There are various ways to grip the paddle, including Continental, Eastern and Western and the object is to serve the ball over the net such that the opponent isn’t able to return it. Paddles are manufactured from a range of materials, including plastic, wood, graphite and fiberglass. Your choice in paddle all depends on your style of play. There are even shoes one can buy for the game but, of course, they aren’t precisely required.
Enter Doug Niedrich
Doug Niedrich moved to Sun Valley in 1978 at the age of 17. He’s raised four children in the Valley and has seven grandkids here. “The kids on my wife’s side are actually seventh generation Idahoan.” Niedrich couldn’t do all he does without the efficient care and camaraderie of his wife, Lisa. “Lisa is definitely the backbone of my existence. She’s raised four kids, does our books and keeps track of everything I’ve got going on.”
And a lot going on Niedrich has. He’s been a serial entrepreneur his entire life involved in the inception of many firsts in the Valley. “I’m approaching retirement age but I probably never will.” While Niedrich has overcome much in his journey with tennis and pickleball, he has dedicated his life to sports and the community. He put on the first mountain bike races in Idaho in the early ‘80s, put on the National Mountain Bike Championships in 1988 and built the first rock climbing gym in the Valley in the early 1990s, which he eventually donated to the YMCA in Ketchum in 2006.
Niedrich is also currently a real estate agent saving buildings for affordable housing. He’s moved over 40 structures to date that were set to be demolished — transitioning them into living facilities for locals. A true community hero, Niedrich loves Sun Valley to the core. “Real estate has always been a passion of mine. I love real estate and I love people. I got my license in, like, ’88, and the education I got helped me build the rock climbing gym and Warm Springs Nordic.” Niedrich did sleigh rides and groomed trails at Warm Springs Ranch under the name Warm Springs Nordic, which led to quite a surprise.
Maybe I’m Amazed
“People started calling and wanting me to groom ski trails outside of their houses. We had the only snow in town in 1989 or ‘90 and Steve from the Steve Miller Band came in during that time. He became a client of mine. I was his personal trainer-slash-ski coach for seven years. I showed up to work one morning and Sir Paul McCartney was in his kitchen! Steve goes, ‘Hey, Doug, this is a buddy of mine,’ and I said, ‘I think I know who this is…’ And it was like meeting an old friend. Paul was a sweetheart. He was incredible. Paul said, ‘I need you to be camp counselor for the McCartney family for 10 days, are you available?’ I made myself available.”
“It was just incredible. I gave them ski lessons, snowboard lessons, backcountry snowmobile lessons and they were just lovely. Nobody knew they were here. Paul was recording some music with Steve at his home studio so they were in town for awhile. It was wild. There was nothing showy about them at all. They drove beater cars, they dressed down and it was really fun getting to know the family. We got to eat a ton of Linda’s vegetarian TV dinners and they were great!”
With a Little Luck
Niedrich found pickleball after a life-altering event. “I got diagnosed with an autoimmune disease that about killed me. I had to have a major surgery to save my life. But the real thing that brought me back from the dead is pickleball. It started in Abu Dhabi while visiting our daughter. I was losing blood, they sent me to the University of Utah who couldn’t help me so they sent me to a surgeon in around 2016. My body went from attacking my digestive tract to attacking my muscles and joints so I almost couldn’t get moving. It took three and a half years after surgery to even get up.” Niedrich laughs. “But it’s funny, a friend of mine, Dale Bates, had tried to get me to play pickleball for years but I was, I don’t know, maybe a tennis snob, and I couldn’t see it. Then after surgery I discovered it and I got moving! I was motivated and started to enjoy life more. It’s given me a new quality of life… it’s miraculous. It really saved my life.”
A tennis snob? Tennis is one of the most precision-perfected sports, thrilling both to play or watch. Niedrich is no stranger to the tennis court.
“Tennis was my business for almost 20 years. We owned and operated The Prospector Tennis and Swim Club out in Warm Springs and, you know, it was built in the early ‘70s… it was a dirt road when we started there.” Things have certainly changed. “I was there in 1982 and in 1986 we negotiated a lease. We owned the business, leased the facility and made our living teaching tennis. Lisa did swim lessons and we sold memberships. It was a great run.”
McEnroe Theater
Nearly everyone of middle age remembers the great tennis public meltdowns and what could be called the ‘McEnroe Theater’. “Pickleball seems to be a lot more gentlemanly with a lot more sportsmanship and community building. You don’t see the McEnroe meltdowns and you know the barrier to entry is sort of low so you can get out on the court and have fun with it and amaze yourself. Tennis is very technical and takes years to learn, lessons are expensive, equipment is expensive, court time is expensive. Pickleball is like, free paddles at the park, free balls, you show up and it’s free and you just have fun. As you get serious, you might buy your own specific paddle and choose the ball you prefer.” Niedrich prefers the tournament balls.
“It’s funny because McEnroe is going to be playing here at an upcoming exhibition. He’s an investor in pickleball and plays it and loves it. McEnroe, Ivan Lendl, Michael Chang, there’s a long list and it’s incredible all the former tennis greats who are loving pickleball. There’s always some laughter even as serious as it gets.” McEnroe still puts on a show. He recently threw his paddle and raised his arms after losing a pickleball doubles match with Michael Chang to Andre Agassi and Andy Roddick!
The feud is not as dire as it is hyped. The older tennis players are embracing the sport—former Penn State championship tennis player Lee Sponaugle included. “He hated, hated pickleball but now he’s all in.” Sponaugle is the current president of Wood River Pickleball Alliance, a nonprofit, volunteer-run 501(c)(3). “Mats Wilander publicly stated how he hated pickleball and now he loves and uses it as a tool to help his wife Sonia’s nonprofit.” The Wilanders, Hailey residents who opened Gravity Fitness and Men’s Second Chance Living (MSCL), also run Higher Ground to rehabilitate veterans with PTSD through therapeutic sports, namely pickleball.
Community Pickling
There’s something about the physical ease and mental strategy of pickleball that brings people together. It’s a low-impact sport that affords the opportunity to be active, social and strategic without the high-impact demands of sports like racquetball or tennis. Pickleball is a community builder designed for all ages. “Eight or nine years ago the top players in the world were over 60 and now the top players are anywhere between 16 and 20. Kids are picking it up and loving it and changing the sport.” The evolution of pickleball play, like everything, evolves with technology and materials science and Niedrich has evolved with it.
“They third-party test the friction on the paddles. It’s very expensive. Recently, hot paddles [paddles manufactured to give an unfair advantage] were banned. People were getting black eyes and big bruises. They’ll test them right on site and shut a player down for using an illegal paddle. And this is all kinda new within the last few weeks.” USAPA and IFP inspect each paddle before a tournament and yank players if they’ve been modified or made for extra friction.
Niedrich is invested in pickleball gear. He holds two U.S. patents, one for a multifunctional exercise system and another for UV protection headwear. “I have a patent pending on an anti-vibration shock reduction system for pickleball paddles.”
“Since I manufacture my own brand of pickleball equipment, Sundrop, I make paddles, some clothing, hats and shirts. I’m not launching it nationwide at the moment. It’s all word of mouth, it’s local. I make some very high-end paddles but I also have some economy starter packs.” Niedrich’s Sundrop paddles can be found for anywhere from $75-$200. He has all of his paddles tested. “It’s expensive to get your certification. My latest round is a thermoformed hot press paddle so it’s all one piece with an edge guard and they have a light texture for putting English on a ball. It’s a more technical process than the common sandwich, cold pressed paddles with no texture. If you get that light texture you get a little more spin.” Niedrich speaks of the notorious top and bottom spin, or “english,” that can be achieved in ball sports, most commonly in tennis and pool.
The Progression of Peace
And here might be where the gears can grind in the tennis/pickleball feud.
“Sun Valley tennis has converted two tennis courts into eight pickleball courts. You can get four times more people in the same real estate. Elkhorn did it right—they tore out several courts to build eight courts and they are dedicated, true pickleball courts. At Atkinsons Park we have four and some temporary courts with temporary nets… the City of Ketchum, it’s political, you know, they’ve held off converting courts to pickleball to protect the tennis community. But if you go any evening you see for yourself how busy the pickleball courts are compared to the tennis scene. We had some very aggressive tennis players trying to shut pickleball down. You pickleball people are a cancer… that kind of sentiment. It’s like, wow, where is this anger coming from?”
Community building is the key. “This is community building. We need to look for cooperation rather than competition. In order for the world to survive, that’s the mindset we need to have as a planet. Cooperation!”
The love of community and sport shows. Maybe it’s not about televised ball games and beer. Community is built in the flesh, getting outside, meeting new friends and having a go at an endeavor together. Siri, “what is community bonding?” How can we better weave and embroider the fabric of our communities for resilience and general thriving? By doing it. Maybe it’s pickleball, maybe it’s a sunny hike, perhaps it’s even just meeting for coffee. A strong community is a safe community.
Where Do We Ball?
Pickleball is open to everyone and although there exists some similarity to tennis with the necessary hand eye coordination, whether you’ve played ping pong, badminton or baseball before, none of that matters. You can go to the park and get your game on with minimal stress, or maybe just the right amount of eustress.
“The Wood River Pickleball Alliance is the go-to pickleball Shangri-La. I teach clinics as does Chris [Seldon, editor of Wood River Weekly]. You can join and get all the beta.” Beta is a term meaning ‘fresh info, strategy or knowledge’ it comes from the climbing community but stretches over – somewhat like the term ‘alpha’ in the financial and crypto trading community.
Although not completely a tournament competitor, Niedrich will be playing June 21st where you can catch him at the Valley Club tournament.
Check out the Wood River Pickleball Alliance at woodriverpickleball.org for all the beta.
Join as a member and find clinics, fresh beta and a rapidly growing, motile community at https://wrpa.wildapricot.org/
Niedrich’s SunDrop paddles and gear can be found very soon at https://www.sundrop.co/
In the meantime if you’d like to peruse or order his fresh tech’d paddles and gear, shoot him an email: Doug@SunDrop.com